The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1887-01-20

he
viii other regiments of your brigade, were ordered
out 20 reinforoe the brigadcs OF Gems Reno ana
Foster which had been engaged ior anou. two s ann
"A half hours Upon reaching the battlegfouho
Nras ordered 10 outflank the enemy on ther ieIti
where they were In position behind an lntehSn
nent mannting three guns. After Leading the sOh
n y info a n1arsh Immediately la front Of the enc
nly's work amidst heavy fire from them ol Rrai'e
aud muslSeiry, the order was gwen 70 Sllis @ eae
LIANT stvle Mai Kimbn taking the lead. Inc enc
nv's works were soon carried and hastily aoan-
doned 10y them. All officers ana men oi tlle fegl-
nlent behaved with great gallantig ',no pIhNcigs
ID il impossible 90 say who n most ueseINlhg' @I
who merits tle most applause in III! opliion "i
deserve credit and praise alike
Afer this we were ordered 20 pursue the rebels,
witch we did aud succeeded in taking some ~
prisoners; among them were several officers ana
men of the Richmond Blues who had composed a
par OF the Wise Legion with Capt O. jennings
Wise at their head, who was badly woundee anu any,
was trying 10 make his escape across 10 nag
regret chat have 60 report the death Of Nj de
Monteil Iieuicnaut CoOnel oi the ID lspluenii Zou-
Rycs. who went into the field Win the s.n .fS~
York "a a volunteer. lie was killed instantly Wilhe
nobly urging my men on TO the charge. ne III NJ
greatly lamenod by all the officers ana men ol tne
TTegin,ent Who came ia contact with him. HIS
bravery was a. great his patriotism was sincere
and cannot but feel that had he lived he would
lnve provpd d most valuable officer. The aih n.
" had two Iientenants aud l8 privRtes wounaed'
Very respectfully yours, aoss,. S.e;; fT,ur,rNs
Colonel, 9th N. v.
Next in order comes an extract from the
IA
report of Gen. j. G. ParRe who commanded
the brigade Of which the 9th was part
RoANoEK Island. Feb'y 9, 1852
The gth y. ". arriving upon the ground,
was ordered To follow the atb l. and turn the ielt
flank Of the enenlys battery. Inc reglmeht ulue5
the command OF Col Rush C. Hawkins, entered
the clearing with great spirit; , -.
n l,einr now ascerinined that the natural osta-
ces on tllis line OF serious Character iAl
the delay n the progress OF the troops through te
Furamps was 40 great. it decided 10 change
sl,e t,ffl fl1p y
tothe Colonel turn to the left and charge the pat
terry directly up the road, and the regiment Win @
hearty veil aud cheer struck into the foho anu
made directly for the battery on the run,
and az soon the 9th n. y. was re-lormeu ~
was ordered forward and succeeded an ~ tahlns
some 40 prisoners. Among them were esNelH
officers and men Of the Richmond Blues, WIN ~
Jennings Wise at their head, who was badly
wounded aud trying TO make his escape IN boat
across 10 Nag's Head.
j now quote from Gen. John G. Fosters
report:
After the engagement (which COM
nenced al ) o'clock had lasted three ana llal
hours the 9h n. y, the last OF Gen Parkes regi-
ments coming on the field followed by the Path
Mass I directed Gen. Parlye Go order u TO charge
The order was given, and the regiment charged on
a rut with yells checreo by te other troops, rlght
up the road nt the battery.
Gen Burnside, in his report, giving a full
official history Of the affair at Roanoke
Island, says:
Just as The 9Th n. V was entering the woods TO
follow the 4th n. L., Gems Foster and Parke dis
covering that tle appearance oi Gen Keno on ti'e ne
order the 9ih n. Y TO charge the battery IN 'front.'
which was Immediately done and at once the road
was filled with sea OF red caps the ar resouhaing
with cheers , The merit OF nfst entelIhg
the fort Is claimed by the 2lst Mass. and the 0lst
N. " a few from each regiment entering at the
same time one regiment hoisting the regimental
flag Rnd The other the National hRg ON the parpet.
Gen. Reno, in his brigade report, says:
/" Leut.-Col. Potter Of the 5lst \, y, led
the three companies Of his regiment that first en-
tered The fort, and was one Of the first in"
Coz. Ferrero, commanding the 51st n. Y,
reports:
lied the left wing down the main road, followed
by the oh n. ", crossed the road and halted in
side the fort
Undoubtedly Col. Ferrero meant to con-
vey the idea that he led his left wing over
the whole length of the corduroy road lead
ing into the earthwOrk, followed by the 9th
NY. This certainly is rare intelligence for
the survivors OF that regiment TO reflect
upon. The idea of Ferrero's leading that
particular charge is rich in the extreme. He
must have intended great joke when he
wrote that sentence Of his report.
Col. Maggi commanding the 2lst Mass.
says:
Our State color was the first on the battery.
nfterward the flag OF the 5lst n. ". then immedi
ately after our regimental flag.
Here we have another hero undoubtedly
of the veritable ShaSsperean pattern, seek
ing the bubble reputation even at the can
mons mouth, but, as Holmes would say,
Built in such a logical way
that i'm the midst Of carnage wading he
finds time TO write, or at least arrange in his
mind a most logical and lawyer-like state
ment concerning
A FLAG-PLANTIHG SCENE,
which for Its c0ncseness and exactness
would cause a German astronomer TO turn
green with professional envy. This Officer
must have had notebook in hand at the
moment of flag planting; otherwise how
could bis chronicle run so smO0thlyp Witt
this report end my quotations from Off
Clal sources.
] shall now quote from such unofficial ant
impartial sources seem TO me worthy o
credit, and first in the list will be found al
extract from history Of the 5lst Pa, by Capt
Thomas III. Parker, who commanded Co. i o
that regiment In writing Of his own Corp
he says, page u;
While nearly on the flank OF the works an,
making efforts 10 get across 10 the fort. disRnc
of about l50 yards, the 9th n Y. charged la SOLE
column up the road into the fort capturing th
three guns aud caissons, one Of which was Mex
can ls-puunder. another Dahlgren l2-pounder
and the third one a Napolean 2l-pounder, ali O
which had been spiked with rat-tail files.
This author was in good position for accu
rate observation, and only states exactly wha
he saw.
The London Illustrated NeUs Of March 2:
1862 contains a full-page engraving of thi
charge, in which the 9th N. Y. appears q
charging not only up the corduroy road bu
over and through the abats and fallen tree
and covering nearly the full front Of the eartl
work. AT the extreme left in the ilustratio
we see a small number Of the 2lst Mass al
lacking the enemy in that direction.
Prank Niztelly, a well-known war arti,
and correspondent, was sent out by the LondO
Illustrated Aers pr0prietOrs TO make slletcht
OF our army operations. He was upon III
field before, when aud after the charge too
place, saw the whole occurrence and drew
upon paper as he saw il. After the engag,
ment was over he sought an introduction, an
congratulated me upon commanding
so FINE BODY OF MEN.
lie said, ii was the finest thing have eve
known OF a new regiment and congratulat
you upon being It's commanding officer"
shall not cite the numerous favorable narr
tiOns Of the New York daily newspapers tn.
had their correspondents upon the spot, ~
from the illustrations in Hdrper's Weekly On
Frank Leslie which give the credit of Il
charge 20 the 9Th n. Y.
The correspondents aud artists Of tho
journals may have had friends among the oa
cers and men Of my regiment, and for th
reason their testimony should not 90 far
convincing of his error a person of NJ
Melch's peculiar mental and moral organic
ton.